The National Association of the Deaf and the Massachusetts Association of the Deaf and Hearing- Impaired, along with a deaf Massachusetts resident, brought this case under the Americans with Disabilities Act against Netflix for failing to provide closed captioned text to its on-demand service known ...
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The National Association of the Deaf and the Massachusetts Association of the Deaf and Hearing- Impaired, along with a deaf Massachusetts resident, brought this case under the Americans with Disabilities Act against Netflix for failing to provide closed captioned text to its on-demand service known as "Watch Instantly." The case was filed June 16, 2011 in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

On November 11, 2011, the court (Judge Michael A. Ponsor) denied the defendant's Motion to Dismiss. The parties entered into settlement negotiations, which resulted in a settlement submitted to the district court for its approval on October 10, 2012. The settlement provides for Netflix to implement closed captions in 100% of Netflix streaming content within two years.

The announcement of the settlement explained that Netflix began its closed-captioning program in 2010, and has since increased captioning for 90% of the hours viewed but is now committed to focusing on covering all titles by captioning 100% of all content by 2014. Captions can be displayed on a majority of the more than 1,000 devices on which the service is available. The parties asked the court to maintain jurisdiction of the case for four years to assure compliance with the terms of the Decree, and plaintiffs will monitor Netflix's progress. Netflix agreed to pay $795,000 for past and future attorneys fees and costs, including monitoring costs.